How TCSA Protected $17 million in Facilities Funding for 72 Texas Charter School Districts

The Texas Charter Exchange

How TCSA Protected $17 million in Facilities Funding for 72 Texas Charter School Districts

Did you know that nearly half of all charter districts in Texas were in danger of losing out on $200 per student this year? We did, and we fought for our schools.

In December, TCSA was successful in helping protect facilities funding for 72 Texas charter districts. Last year, TEA decided not to issue letter grades to districts impacted by Harvey (17 districts) and single-campus charter districts (55 districts). This is problematic because good academic performance under the new A-F letter grade accountability system is a requirement to receive facilities funds that were set aside in a new law that passed in 2017.

On behalf of our member schools, we worked with TEA to correct this oversight and were the only voice advocating for 72 charter districts that could have lost out on an additional $200 per student. We’re thrilled that we helped deliver this win for Texas charter schools. In total, TCSA helped put more than $17 million back into charter school classrooms this school year. Seventeen Harvey-waiver charters received a total of $11,239,502 in facilities funding, and 55 single-campus charters received a total of $5,896,222 in facilities funding.

We’re proud to advocate for charter schools – not just at the state Capitol, but at TEA, and the local level as well. We’ll continue to fight so that charter schools have the funding, freedom, and flexibility to accomplish their missions and grow to serve the 140,000 names on charter waitlists in Texas.

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Chris has over 20 years of experience in business, marketing and design. During his career, he has worked across 7 vastly different industries, most recently spending eight years in the finance sector. Chris holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelors of Arts degree with honors in Advertising, both from Texas Tech University.

2019 Policy Priorities

The map below demonstrates the number of charter school students waitlisted for charter schools as of Fall 2018. Only students with a primary status of Waitlisted are displayed. In order to protect the identity of students, dots reflect a minimum of five nearby data points.